Commerce
Shopify theme or Hydrogen: how to choose
· 4 min
Headless commerce promises total design freedom and performance control. For some brands it delivers exactly that. For many others, a well-built theme achieves the same business results with less cost and maintenance.
When a theme is enough
If your catalogue is standard, your team needs to edit pages without developers and your design fits within sections and blocks, a modern Online Store 2.0 theme is usually the right choice.
When Hydrogen earns its cost
Hydrogen fits when you need experiences themes cannot express, complex integrations with CMS or personalisation tools, or tight performance control at high traffic. Plan for ongoing developer involvement.
A simple test
List the three things your current store cannot do. If a theme customisation solves them, stay on a theme. If they require a fundamentally different architecture, consider headless.